Villages could bring growth spurt to Gaston town

By late summer, work is expected to begin on a development that would bring more housing, as well as institutional, office and retail space, to Cramerton. Developers introduced the idea for a mixed-use community, called The Villages at Cramerton Mills, three years ago.

But while the economy slowed work on the project, it isn’t dead, say stakeholders. In fact, the project is shaping up to be bigger than originally expected.

The proposed development off Cramer Mountain Road will house condos, houses, apartments, shops and office space, Cramerton town manager Michael Peoples said.

The development was approved by Cramerton City Council back in May 2010. Now Nick Parker, an engineer with Amicus Engineering who is leading the development, is asking for more land.

Parker is asking the town to rezone 19 acres on Hamrick Road.

Developers already own 82 acres of land designated for the community. The 19 acres on Hamrick Road is owned by the town. Decisions have yet to be made on whether Cramerton will sell, lease or otherwise loan the land to the developers.

Currently, the property houses a former sewer treatment plant and firing range for the Cramerton Police Department. The wastewater plant went dormant in the 1990s, but if the request is approved, the firing range would have to be moved, Peoples said.

That won’t happen immediately.

“We don’t want to disturb what we have currently with our police department utilizing that so we don’t want to do something too quickly until we have our plan in place,” Peoples said.

What’s going to be there?

The project approved three years ago called for 84,000 square feet of office, retail space and 40,000 square feet of institutional space. There would also be a residential neighborhood in the development. Developers want to build more than 140 cottages, 60 townhomes, 40 bungalows, 220 apartments, 20 flats and 40 condos with garages.

They’ll sell for $50,000 to $350,000, Parker estimates.

But the entire community would be anchored around an institutional space that Parker is calling the research and work-force development center. Organizers say it will house researchers for green building, renewable energy and sustainable communities. Those are also concepts Parker hopes to bring to life in The Villages.

“The original intent and current intent of the project was for it to be very forward thinking,” Parker said. “It’ll be a sustainable community, low impact development, green building and renewable energy.”

Opening pushed back

Peoples said the project has been in the works for more than two years, but cautious planning and a tough economy have kept The Villages in the developmental stage.

Parker agreed, saying the main reason for the wait was careful planning for financing.

“This is an innovative project, so we needed to find a like-minded finance partner who believed in the integrity and sustainability of the project. It took time to get that partner to the table,” Parker said.

Page 2 of 2 - He says the group found that partner but won’t divulge the name until a formal announcement in late summer. Parker did say the finance partner is a local developer.

He expects crews to break ground on phase one of the project in late summer, with a grand opening in the first quarter of 2014 if all goes as planned.

The Villages will be the biggest project Cramerton has ever seen, Peoples said.

“It will just make the town larger as a whole,” Peoples said. “It will be a really big project; the largest project that Cramerton has ever seen … I think it’s phenomenal for not only Cramerton but Gaston County as a whole.”

Parker will submit his request for more rezoning to the town’s planning board. The board will then research the proposal and make a recommendation. Then the council will decide whether to approve the land deal.

“This is just the very beginning of a longer process,” Peoples said.

You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter.com/Lbaheri.